Secret Aid Worker: After years in the field, I've lost my compassion

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The strategic nature of the funding meant that it was different from other types of funding, where a donor decides which projects to fund and what activities must be undertaken in exchange for the grant. It allowed civil society to spend wherever the need was greatest and where it would provide the most impact in achieving strategic goals.

As well as lowering transaction costs for DfID, PPA freed NGOs from spending money on continuously chasing project financing. Instead they were able to focus on delivering sustainable development outcomes through activities that are hard to fundraise for, such as advocacy.

PPAs were never meant to make up more than 40% of an organisation’s income (VSO was the only exception), but in reality they make up more than 50% of unrestricted income for many organisations. In short, it is over £120m a year that made development and humanitarian response better, without which many organisations will either cease to exist or become faint shadows of their former selves.

With this funding such a vital lifeline for the sector, it’s not surprising that NGOs are growing increasingly nervous about what will happen in December when PPAs are due to end, particularly as there have been constant delays in announcing what comes next. This means across the sector projects are being stopped, organisations restructured and staff are leaving.

Secret aid worker: fixing the humanitarian and development divide

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And this is combined with the Brexit headwinds, which will potentially cut off EU funding for UK NGOs. Oxfam has declared it stands to lose millions in EU funding, Christian Aid is undertaking a cost-saving restructure and Progressio faces closure after 75 years of existence if it does not find £2m funding.

Even if your organisation did not have access to PPA funding, you may have benefitted from it when partnering with an agency that does receive it. Evaluations showed that the PPAs helped millions and they have helped turn the UK into a global development superpower, a development Silicon Valley.

Civil society organisations are not the only cheerleaders for PPAs. They were commended by OECD because they allowed recipients to “focus on strategic and substantive issues instead of constantly chasing funds”. They were intended to be a mechanism that encouraged freedom and innovation, freeing its recipients from the tyranny of “projectitis”– the infectious disease whose first symptoms include an un-editable logframe and causes the sufferer to become a sub-contractor for northern governments.

The UK’s National Audit Office (NAO) said of the PPAs in its 2006 report that they “offer the prospect of a more strategic approach to long-term development challenges, better coordination and reduced transaction costs – where they can be based on well-specified and monitorable strategic objectives”. Greater predictability, flexibility and reduced administration costs for both DfID and the recipient were singled out by the NAO as benefits of the funding.

Secret aid worker: we need to listen to humans, not follow programmes

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If you ask a member of the general public who they think delivers UK aid, the answer is likely to be charities. However, funding for civil society only makes up a small percentage of the £12bn UK aid budget. The PPAs provided a strategic nature to this funding and meant the money went further. With the end of the PPAs the strategic partnership between civil society and DfID is now under threat.

We now face a future of UK aid only funding projects seen to be politically safe in western capitals regardless of the development outcomes for the poorest. This “projectitis” is exactly what donors agreed to do away with just a few months ago at the World Humanitarian Summit. They said they “aspire to achieve a global target of 30% of humanitarian contributions that is non-earmarked or softly earmarked by 2020”.

The end of the PPAs is a step in the wrong direction for the millions of the poorest people in the world.

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